If they then go on to commit a violent crime, they can be held responsible on some level, as they made the decision to take the drugs. While the diminished responsibility clause in the UK is similar, there is no such sliding scale.Ĭonsider a situation where an individual takes drugs that contribute to a psychotic episode.
Jail inmate tries to escape hospital restroom post crescent full#
“Dutch law differs from English law in that it recognises a sliding scale from full responsibility through to total lack of responsibility, with three levels in between,” explains one report in the journal Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health.
One of the unique things about the Dutch criminal justice system is that a person can be judged to be responsible for their crime on five levels. (Read more: Locked up and vulnerable: When prison makes things worse.) My main focus is on how it affects women, following my in-depth piece last week looking at women with mental health issues in prisons. I’m visiting Zwolle prison to understand what effect this segmentation has – and to what extent it helps those who are mentally unwell. The idea is that this way, they can receive the proper, and particular, care they need. But in the Netherlands prisoners are streamlined into specific segments following a charge. In countries like the UK and US, prisoners with mental health conditions often end up in the general prison population. A third of the women are in the “crisis ward”: the place where their condition is stabilised before they enter the general psychiatric ward. It’s clear from the moment I pass through the heavy metal doors, that I am entering a prison.Ībout 124 men and 36 women live here, separate from the general prison population. My passport, work ID and camera are checked, and my belongings scanned before I may enter. It’s not even immediately clear which door will open for me, but when enter I see that cameras were already recording my every move.Īlthough I first enter into the staff area – separate from the prisoners by several locked doors, I am still subject to strict security checks. Though the car park is full, there is nobody around outside the building. When I arrive at Zwolle prison in the Netherlands, it’s initially hard to imagine that the quiet building, situated next to a fast-food establishment and a garden centre, houses 400 or so inmates – including those with some of the most severe psychiatric disorders among the prison population.
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